Shiver Me Timbers
Shiver Me Timbers
Dominant (not boring) Israel Adesanya, the return of the Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker, Blackcaps ODI reappearances, Warriors at Mt Smart (!) & Aotearoa basketball hype
Kia ora and welcome to The Niche Cache. There are many ways to support our mahi. Patreon has an extra podcast each week. Word of mouth works great too. Engagement is fabulous and if you’re on our website, dwell on those ads. Love ya self.
Podcast
Reading Menu
27fm Album Jukebox – June 2022 (Music)
Kiwi-NRL Spotlight: The Rise Of Christian Tuipulotu (Rugby League)
Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan: The Return To Aotearoa (Rugby League)
The Quotable Steven Adams: 2021-22 Edition (Basketball)
The Many Wrinkles Of Glenn Phillips' Move To Otago Volts (Cricket)
Turns Out Trent Boult Is The Best Number 11 In Test Cricket (Cricket)
Scotty’s Word
Shiver me timbers, the UFC is weird. The more I learn about the UFC, the happier I am to tune in for Aotearoa mahi and tap out when no kiwis are present. Not only is UFC a big scam for fighters, there is a weird crossover between legit sports and ‘prize fighting’ or delivering entertainment. I could do a big yarn breaking that down but I’ll zone in on Israel Adesanya’s comprehensive victory over Jared Cannonier, so comprehensive and dominant that Adesanya is viewed as boring.
Most folks around that UFC bubble demand entertainment as opposed to the best combat athletes doing their thing. It seems like the complicated Adesanya vs Aotearoa dynamic is also evident in the UFC bubble as folks didn’t view Adesanya’s win over Cannonier favourably. In the same way that Adesanya amplifies any niggle with Aotearoa through his comments and actions, Adesanya doesn’t help his perception in UFC fandom as he chats big, exciting yarns and then picks his opponent apart with no risk.
UFC folks want fighters to risk everything and go bonkers. Some fighters respond, others want to win. While I can see how Adesanya’s antics are not aligned with how he fights, as someone who breaks down Aotearoa sport; Adesanya is a dominant force who has rolled through his division without taking any risks. That’s a Eugene Bareman/City Kickboxing thing too as their world-class striking features the premise of ‘hitting while not being hit’.
Against Cannonier, Adesanya landed jabs whenever he wanted along with low kicks. Cannonier had nothing in response. Adesanya has delivered that general recipe over and over again, against the best fighters in the world. Fairy excellent. Adesanya is now likely to fight Alex Pereira who grabbed two wins over Adesanya in kickboxing before entering the UFC. Pereira will present a intriguing challenge for Adesanya and perhaps refresh the vibe.
Learning: don’t take anything said in a press conference seriously. Press conferences are overrated and most folks lie their way through them.
Two of the best UFC fighters in the world are brewed in City Kickboxing. Alex Volkanovski dominated Max Holloway, sealing a third win over Holloway and along with Kamaru Usman, these three lads are the best fighters in the world. Unfortunately for CKB, Genah Fabian (PFL) and Brad Riddell lost their fights this weekend.
Fabian was smoked by hard-hitting Larissa Pachecho, Riddell was smoked by Jalin Turner. Both were finished in the first round and both are entering non-factor territory. Fabian was already a few tiers below champion Kayla Harrison and was rolled by a contender. Riddell has back to back losses to fighters rising up his division and appears to have hit a UFC plateau.
Aotearoa Warriors returning to Mt Smart was fun and two weekends of footy at Mt Smart went as good as possible. The way Mt Smart was packed with Kiwis and Tongan fans was lovely, then seeing Mt Smart packed with all sorts of fans under the Warriors umbrella doubled the loveliness. The NRL is responding to this buzz with all sorts of plans to boost rugby league in Aotearoa, although the health of rugby league in Aotearoa is already low key strong.
Rugby league doesn’t need ‘saving’ in Aotearoa. Folks just weren’t watching what has been happening at a grassroots level and while you will see more headlines about the NRL’s plans, just know that they are going to boost a sport that has established stronger foundations during the pandemic. The NRL is also well aware of rugby league’s presence in Aotearoa and they are only pursuing growth in Aotearoa because they know there is a market for it. Data/analytics tell the NRL this, not opinions.
After highlighting the running mahi of Shaun Johnson compared to Dylan Brown and Jahrome Hughes, guess what happened? Johnson had 11 runs for 103m and Warriors won. Ronald Volkman also had 22 tackles without a miss. Most Warriors players were good and that’s what happens when playing Wests Tigers - nothing has changed for Tigers after sacking Kiwis coach Michael Maguire.
Taniwharau junior Austin Dias did make his debut for Tigers and like most Tigers players, didn’t do much. Dias represents a few trends that help reinforce the ‘Aotearora rugby league health’ idea though…
Dias is joined by Kiwi Ferns and NRLWahine champion Mya Hill-Moana in reppin’ Taniwharau. Hill-Moana received her Taniwharau blazer after winning the NRLWahine championship, while the greater Waikato/Bay of Plenty region is sizzling with rugby league talent (and all sports talent … because every sport in every region is sizzling).
Joseph Manu (Tokoroa), Te Maire Martin (Turangawaewae), Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (Hamilton) and Briton Nikora (Tauranga) were in the recent Kiwis squad. Hayze Perham (Rotorua) and Morgan Harper (Ngaruawahia) boost this group. Stretch the boundaries out a wee bit for Makahesi Makatoa (New Plymouth), Tohu Harris and Leo Thompson (Hawke’s Bay).
Tigers also had Starford To’a, Ken Maumalo, Kelma Tuilagi (Auckland) and Fa’amanu Brown (Christchurch) in their line up.
Kiwi-NRL players come from every region in Aotearoa, except Otago and Tasman. There are also Kiwi-NRL players in most NRL teams and as someone who is tracking junior matters, believe me when I tell you that this will soon explode even further.
Oh, what’s that? Another White Ferns red flag! Lauren Down is the latest White Fern to take a wellbeing break and while everyone’s health should be a priority, teams shouldn’t have three wellbeing breaks in 18 months. Amelia Kerr and Sophie Devine took wellbeing breaks prior to the World Cup, now Down joins them; NZC can’t celebrate their mahi in supporting players when they are responsible for this environment.
Also, here’s an easy example of a lack of understanding about NZC contracts…
There is no correlation between NZC contracts and being ‘in a team’. Contracts don’t dictate team selection and as covered plenty in recent emails, lots of blokes and wahine play for Blackcaps and White Ferns without contracts - like Claudia Green who was called into the squad along with Tahuhu. Stop caring about NZC contracts.
Start caring about WBBL contracts. Maddy Green joins Sophie Devine at Perth Scorchers and Amelia Kerr is signed to Brisbane Heat. I don’t expect a big wahine crew in the upcoming WBBL which serves as a fine example of thriving wahine sport as it’s a standalone event - it doesn’t need BBL. White Ferns woes filter down to these gigs and only the best will get WBBL gigs.
Black Sticks wahine had a 2-2 draw with China to start their World Cup. That’s a decent result for a team that will be chuffed to get out of pool play and I’m trying to sit with optimism until proven wrong. Aotearoa now plays England on Wednesday morning and remember Mark Hager? Well he left his England/Great Britain coaching role late last year and is now working in Australia’s pathways stuff - the guy who had a vendetta against him by certain figures in Aotearoa is now working with young Aussie women and it all seems ok.
Wildcard’s Notebook
Flying Kiwis Transfer Tracker
It’s the return of a past favourite. Giving the people what they want by playing the hits. The European transfer period officially began at the start of this month and while there were of course already deals being arranged before that, including a few New Zealanders, this is when things really ramp up. As long as there’s chat to be had I’ll try make this a regular feature in these emails same as it was during January (to great effect).
I wrote about Marco Rojas’ move to Colo-Colo in the last email on Friday. Since then the manager of the club has confirmed that not only is there interest but the transfer’s basically done. Marco will fly into Chile next Sunday local time and then the following day will conduct his medical. If nothing goes astray then the move will be finalised straight after.
For the record, Colo-Colo are one of the premier clubs in Chile and are currently trying to work their way into the Copa Sudamericana quarters. They play Internacional (Brazil) in the second leg of their round of sixteen matchup on Wednesday, which should be streamed on BeIN Connect... a terrible streaming service but at least the games are somewhere. Colo-Colo won the home leg 2-0.
A couple more that’ll be covered in more depth tomorrow in Flying Kiwis that I’ll just breeze through here quickly. Katie Rood is moving to Hearts in the Scottish WPL. This following a silverware-filled season with Southampton in which she had some fantastic moments although injuries meant she was mostly a bench option and they chose not to re-sign her after getting promoted. All goods. Hearts is where the new home is at.
And then also Matt Garbett has signed a new contract with Torino. This is a slightly weird one for the main reason that he was already on a long term deal, at least according to reports when he first joined the club. Again, that’ll get more exploration in Flying Kiwis. Always read Flying Kiwis each Tuesday. Gotta assume he’s at least getting a pay-rise with that new scoop and I do wonder if perhaps it’s a precursor to a loan out for first team experience, since that would seem to be the next logical step in his career.
Righto, now how about this one...
To be honest the only surprise is that it’s taken so long for Claudia Bunge to attract top overseas interest but with back to back influential A-League championship seasons for Melbourne Victory and now apparent first eleven status with the national team it appears that it’s finally time for the 22yo to make that leap.
Manchester United and Brighton are the clubs mentioned by the BBC’s Emma Sanders there (who is a tier one WSL transfer source) though there’s also a bloke on twitter assuring everyone that she’s destined for Spurs... which would mean joining Ria Percival so that alone is enough to cheer for. Brighton of course signed Rebekah Stott out of the A-League once upon a time. Contrastingly Manchester United have never had a kiwi in their ranks (women’s or men’s team).
Also don’t forget that Anna Leat and Meikayla Moore are hunting for new gigs after leaving English clubs. Leat was recently linked to Aston Villa in the WSL (by Emma Saunders no less). Haven’t heard anything on Moore yet. Vic Esson is another who should be a highly regarded available player as long as her agent’s got any recent Footy Ferns footage to share around.
Joey Champness is another on the lookout for something in Europe having left Giresunspor in Turkey by mutual decision a few months early last season – it was implied there were some off-field dramas there. Pure speculation on my part but I’d guess maybe payments not going through or something. Regardless, he’s a free agent and searching for something new.
Might just chuck a little Henry Gray action into the mix as well...
Kiwi Basketball Hype-Up O’Clock
The Aotearoa team is out there getting mangled at the FIBA Men’s U17 World Cup in Spain right now, going down 94-46 to Canada and then 120-76 to Serbia in their two games so far with a match against France to come overnight that’ll polish off their inevitable group stage exit. No dramas there, it’s all for the experience and we did kinda draw three powerful basketball nations there so the writing was on the wall.
Also soon to be on the wall are a series of posters featuring young kiwi baller Will Shortt who in fierce deference to the concept of nominative determinism has been getting all the way up on a heap of magnificent dunks throughout these games.
There was this one...
There was this one...
And there was this one...
For the record, Will Shortt is a 17yo forward who already stands 6’7 and went to Auckland Boy’s Grammar. Yet another fascinating hoops prospect stemming from within these golden shores.
Like, for example, Dontae Russo-Nance who had a fantastic game yesterday for the Auckland Tuatara with 21pts/10reb/9ast in a win away to the Otago Nuggets. This is a bloke who was born in 2005. He’s 17 years old and almost getting national league triple-doubles. Doing a bit of everything there, peek at the highlights and see the variety of ways in which he can get to his shot off the drive. So exciting.
Or how about these lads?
Not to mention the successful launch of the Tauihi women’s competition this weekend. Three great games, all with more professionalism than wahine basketball has seen before in this country. Pay parity with the men’s comp. Great level of imports plus a really strong calibre of homegrown pros who’ve bought into the fun.
So yeah, happy days. I also reckon it might be worth keeping a close eye on the progress and development of this new replacement fella that the Tuatara signed the other day. Local bloke named Kirk Penney. Heard some solid things about him. Sounds like a proper player.
Blackcaps x ODI Cricket
The Blackcaps Test series against England ended in brutality. In fact all three of the individual Tests ended in brutality. But it’s time to brush off the hurt and embrace some white-ball cricket instead because on Sunday begins a three-ODI series against Ireland. Important games as these are part of the ODI Super League and thus count towards World Cup qualification. And, as it stands, the Blackcaps would not be qualifying for the 2023 edition.
Nope, not as things stand. They’d probably still get in via the second qualifying tournament but only the top eight teams in the Super League get automatic entry and the Cappies are tenth right now. Despite having a perfect winning percentage in this inaugural cycle.
Explanation: they’ve only played six matches. Six wins out of six is still only sixty points. There are 13 teams in the Super League and none of the others have played fewer than 12 while the West Indies have somehow squeezed in 21 of them. The Blackcaps made the ODI World Cup final in 2019 and lost via double-draw cherry picking... they have only played six ODI matches since. Three wins against Bangladesh and three wins against Netherlands. Scandalous.
The Blackcaps have had more games called off than they’ve been able to play thanks to that bastard of a pandemic. This Ireland series is a reschedule from June 2020. Same as the trip to the West Indies that was supposed to follow it but instead will be played in August. Then in September we’re playing Aussie in Aussie for three games which have already been postponed twice: first Jan 2021 and then Jan 2022.
There are also home series against India and Sri Lanka during the home summer and an ODI series in Pakistan during the tour there in December. Add that all together and after six ODIs in three years the Blackcaps will play 19 ODIs between now and the end of March 2023 (including a bonus ODI against Scotland later on this tour).
Blackcaps Top Run Scorers in ODI Super League
Tom Latham – 299 runs at 149.30 average & 102.39 strike-rate
Will Young – 236 runs at 78.66 ave & 96.72 strike-rate
Devon Conway – 225 runs at 75.00 average & 88.23 strike-rate
Martin Guptill – 198 runs at 33.00 average & 93.83 strike-rate
Henry Nicholls – 158 runs at 31.60 average & 74.52 strike-rate
Blackcaps Top Wicket Takers in ODI Super League
Matt Henry – 11 wickets at 15.27 average & 3.77 economy
Kyle Jamieson – 8 wickets at 25.12 average & 4.13 economy
Jimmy Neesham – 7 wickets at 18.14 average & 5.14 economy
Blair Tickner – 5 wickets at 17.60 average & 5.86 economy
Michael Bracewell – 5 wickets at 19.20 average & 5.05 economy
Trent Boult - 5 wickets at 22.60 average & 3.91 economy
Some notable players who have not played in any of these Super League matches so far: Kane Williamson, Tim Southee, Glenn Phillips, Lockie Ferguson.
Williamson and Southee won’t be playing in this series either... although Ferguson is there to make his return to the fold and Phillips has also deservedly been included. That squad to face Ireland once more...
Tom Latham, Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Dane Cleaver, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Adam Milne, Henry Nicholls, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner & Will Young
Finn Allen, Dane Cleaver, and Jacob Duffy are all awaiting ODI debuts. Cleaver in fact has yet to debut internationally in any format. Adam Milne hasn’t played in this cycle yet. Only four blokes have played in all six Super League games so far and they’re Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, and Henry Nicholls. And Jamieson’s injured so he’s about to drop off the end of that chain.